About Leo the 13th
Newspeople on TV are speculating that the new pope’s choice of name has something to do with Leo XIII, especially with his encyclical Rerum Novarum on Catholic social doctrine.
I think papal “social doctrine” does not begin to take the measure of Leo XIII, who is better understood, I believe, by his love of sacred studies and his choice of Newman as his first cardinal. I think Leo XIII picked his name for the sake of Chalcedon.
When I think of Leo XIII, I think of serious, intellectually rigorous theological study. I think his most important encyclical was Providentissimus Deus. This was the pope who authorized the founding of the École Biblique and the Pontifical Biblical Institute. My personal debt to Leo XIII is direct, massive, and gladly confessed.
Patrick Henry Reardon is pastor emeritus of All Saints Antiochian Orthodox Church in Chicago, Illinois, and the author of numerous books, including, most recently, Out of Step with God: Orthodox Christian Reflections on the Book of Numbers (Ancient Faith Publishing, 2019).
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